The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-10-22

TO the house IL was also encouraging, ut the
house. to have him say, as In verso "a, that
the maid was not dead. This suggestion from
him was met with scorn This utterance,
however, stopped all suggestions about
swooning or fainting or anything Of that
kind After she had come to life again, II he
had not made that suggestion beforehand,
others might have made 1t afterwards Now
was the time for those to speak who had any
thing to say against the genuinoness Of tho
miracle. Doctors, parents. mourners and all
the people knew it was real death.
vs. Is, 90. Restored-It was only simple
command Of Christ, and she rose immedi-
ately, we'll and with q good appetite. She
was not restored to life simply, to be left
sickly as she had been before, but was wholly
we'll.
VS.. $3.50 The blind-With all these stories
OF Christ's cures floating around, Of course the
blind hear of them. They had no doubt as
to the meaning Of Christ's miraculous power.
1t was to them immediate proof Of his Mes
siahship. They did not hesitate to profess
their faith in him as the Messiah. That was
precisely what was meant by their address,
"Thou Son Of David" This name was then
as definite in Its meaning as Messiah is now.
v. %. Their understandable the wo-
man, these made their confession when they
made their prayer; and yet Christ pressed
them for an explicit avowal Of their faith in
his power, and made his blessing measure it
self by the fullness Of their faith.
Why, in several cases, Christ forbade the
proclamation Of his miracles Is q mystery.
He seems very positively and theoretically 10
have forbidden 1t in the case Of these blind
men. 1t is evident that they just a. clearly
disobeyed his command. He may have for
hidden it lest he should be 30 overpressed
with applications for relief as to have no
time for preaching the gospel, or to prevent
the excited people from taking some public
step to proclaim his Messiahship.
SUGGESTIVE APPLICATIONS.
V. 49, Come and lay thy hand upon her
Tho heavy hand Of affection had been laid
upon this poor child. II was the hand of
comfort and Of healing That the father now
wished to be laid upon his child. 1t was q
beautiful and expressive smile borrowed
from the habit Of priests and holy men laying
their hands upon person in wishing or i'm
parting blessing. So the father would say
by the simile, your blessing will restore my
child.
v. 20. Touched the hem of his garment
There are proud people who come like Naa-
man with patronizing air and q lofty
demand that some great thing should be done
or some great display made in response to
their request for healing Many Of them 60
away angry, and are not as wise as Naaman
to repent and obey and be healed. There is
another class, timid and fearful and retiring,
like this nameless woman who crept near TO
Christ not so much to steal q blessing rs 10
get one unobserved. While the latter are
to be commended before the former, neither
class can be counted among those who take
the true and manly course to obtain bless
ing from the Lord. A public confession was
virtually forced from the latter when it ought
to have come with ease and as the voluntary
expression Of tho soul that was conscious Of
cure.
V. Is. Took her by the hand, and the maid
arose-When Jesus takes our hand, a new
life is given US; though spiritually dead be-
fore, we are made alive by the divine touch
and stand before him with new power and
with fresh life.
HINTS FOR PRIMARY CLASSES.
The first miracle-A girl 10 years old was
so very i'll that every one thought she must
die. The father heard that Jesus was in
town, and went to ask him to cure her. The
servants followed to say, 1t is too late; she Is
dead But the father had great faith in
Jesus. He knew he could even raise the dead
p life. This was his only daughter, and be
owed her so dearly he would do anything to
make her live. Jesus went to the rulers
house, and found the people making great
noise, weeping and wailing, because the little
girl was dead. People in eastern lands have
customs very different from ours. When
Heath occurs, persons are hired to come with
little instruments and make great show Of
sorrow with loud noises Of various kinds
They howl and cry aloud, striking together
their bits OF brass or wood, or humping a
sort of noisy drum
Already the rulers house was filed and
by these noisy mourners. Jesus
commanded silence, and ordered every one
to leave except the parents and his three most
favored disciples, Peter, James and John.
When quiet was obtained, Jesus took the
hand of the dead maiden, and said, "Damsel,
! say unto thee arise Immediately her
spirit came back into her body; she rose to
her feet and walked, and Jesus told them to
give her food
The second ,miracle-This was on a woman
who had been ill for twelve years. She had